Eight Baptism; Spiritual Dangers; Recovery; 1 Cor

Eight Baptism; Spiritual Dangers; Recovery; 1 Cor. 15:30-34

Then Paul goes on to give another argument for resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:30 ^NASB “Why are we also in danger every hour?” His first argument in this paragraph is: Why would you get baptized if you didn’t believe in resurrection? It renders the whole concept of baptism irrelevant. Now he asks: Why would we even put our lives in jeopardy or in danger in preaching the gospel? This is his point in vv. 30-34. He is arguing here that as an apostle he puts his life in danger day after day after day; every time he goes anywhere to preach the gospel he always runs the risk of losing his life.

2 Corinthians 4:8 ^NASB “{we are} afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [10] always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” He means by that that as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ we have been identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, so that we might live this new life in Christ. [11] For we who live [believers who are still alive] are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake [always in a potential situation of suffering], so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Paul was faced with all manner of adversities. Most of the epistles don’t tell us of everything. We know of a few cases where he was stoned and left for dead, and we know that he was arrested in Jerusalem and imprisoned for two years before he finally made his way to Rome. But there are many instances that we are not told about in the life of Paul but he does allude to them in 2 Corinthians chapter six. In verse 4 ^NASB “but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, [5] in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, [6] in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, [7] in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, [8] by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; {regarded} as deceivers and yet true; [9] as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, [10] as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.”

So Paul is asking why he would run these risks if there was no resurrection? He would be putting his life at risk for something that was false.

1 Corinthians 15:31 ^NASB “I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” He is not saying that he physically dies every day and is brought back to life; he is not using this in a literal sense. He is using it in the same sense he does in 2 Corinthians chapters 4 & 6, that there is a potential every day. He carries about in his body the dying of Jesus Christ, so there is the potential of his being killed also because of the message of the gospel.

Then he gives a hypothetical situation.1 Corinthians 15:32 ^NASB “If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE.” He uses a first class condition in the Greek, if and the assumption is taken to be true. At this point he is not talking about the fact that he has literally faced beasts in the Colosseum at Ephesus. That kind of persecution of believers had not taken place yet. The first major persecution was under Nero at about 63 or 64 AD. 1 Corinthians was written before that time. He is using a hyperbolic illustration. His argument is, even if I was to be in this extreme situation why would I put my life in jeopardy if there weren’t a resurrection? In fact, he says, we should follow the principle of the Epicureans: “LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE.” That is, if all there is to life is what is physically present today, and there is no after life, no accountability, then it doesn’t matter what we do, let’s just enjoy life, pursue a life of pleasure and whatever we want to do and whatever makes us happy today because there is no happiness in the future.

Then Paul concludes with a command, a prohibition. 1 Corinthians 15:33 ^NASB “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals’.” Don’t be deceived about resurrection, don’t be deceived by false doctrine related to Christianity, by associating with those who believe wrong things. This is a warning that every one of us needs to pay attention to, that if we associate with our close inner circle of friends and associates, with people who do not believe in the truth of Scripture, then we run the real risk of having our thinking influenced by their false doctrine. Our sin nature has a natural attraction to any kind of thought that we can use to rationalize away obedience to God and the importance and significance of doctrine.

This is a theme that runs through all of the Proverbs, again and again and again. Proverbs 1:14 ^NASB “Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse, [15] My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path.” In other words, the unbeliever wants us to cast in our lot with them and follow their reasoning, and the warning from the writer of Proverbs is, don’t walk in the way with them, don’t follow their course of action. Proverbs 13:20 ^NASB “He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Then we come to Paul’s final conclusion here in terms of application. It is not just a matter of believing a doctrine, that there is resurrection from the dead, but that this impacts the way we live. 1 Corinthians 15:34 ^NASB “Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak {this} to your shame.” What is Paul saying here? The verb used here is an aorist active imperative, and an aorist imperative emphasizes immediate action. This is a priority. This is the verb eknepho [e)knhfw] and it is not a word that would normally be translated “be sober” in many other passages, which is a word that is used for thinking objectively. This is a word literally for, Stop being inebriated. It is a word that has to do with recovery from being drunk. It was used in a figurative sense though to come to your sense, in other words to gain control of your thinking, and it would be the idea of thinking accurately. So it is not used in a literal sense of don’t be drunk because drunkenness wasn’t a problem, but it has the idea of regaining control of one’s thinking or to think objectively.

The second word that we find here in the Greek is dikaios [dikaiwj]. He omega ending of the word indicates that it is an adverb. An adverb modifies a verb. The idea is to awake righteously or justly, or think justly. In other words, we are to think according to the standard of God’s Word; “and stop sinning.” He is not talking about sinning per se. There is no such thing as perfectionism in this life, no such thing as the removal of a sin nature in this life; until the day you die you will sin. So we have to understand this in the context, and the context is to stop sinning in relationship to rejecting the doctrine of resurrection. Then he ties this to the fact that obviously they have been influenced by some sort of false teaching coming from the pagan crowd around them, and he says, “for some have no knowledge of God.” Some of these people don’t know anything about God, they are unbelievers. “I speak {this} to your shame.” In other words, this should embarrass you to no end that you are letting unbelievers who don’t know anything about God influence your thinking in this matter. This takes us back to the basic issue in the Christian life which is confession of sin.

Once we confess our sin then we begin to walk by the Spirit again. Galatians 5:16 ^NASB “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” It is impossible to fulfil the lusts of the sin nature as long as we are walking by means of the Spirit. We walk by the Spirit by putting into practice the mandates of Scripture. Walking by the Spirit isn’t some sort of mystical life. It is walking in dependence upon the Spirit but it is never divorced from the Word. Galatians 5:25 ^NASB “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Here the verb is stoicheo [stoixew]. In verse 16 the verb for “walk” is peripateo [peripatew], which indicates a step by step walk. Stoicheo indicates following a path, a line, following in someone’s footsteps. It is following an objective path. What is the objective path? Scripture says you follow a specific path. When you walk by the Spirit you are following an objective standard or line. The Holy Spirit has paid out a clear path, it is the Word of God. So the Christian life is always led by dependence on the Holy Spirit plus the Word of God, you don’t have one without the other.